the Mountain Goats at the Social

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS play The Social as part of their “New Hymns for the Advent of the Serpent God Tour” on Tuesday, January 24th, with support from Nurses. Details/Tickets

It makes me a little sad that, in the flood of “Best Albums of 2011” lists that appeared over the last few weeks, there was scarcely any mention of the Mountain Goats’ ‘All Eternals Deck’. It’s a great album and fits easily into the band’s dauntingly vast catalog. The last three songs, in particular, are really terrific, with ‘Never Quite Free‘ almost reducing me to tears every single time.

Seeing John Darnielle can be a religious experience – he’ll tell stories and jokes, but then launch into some of the most affecting, poignant and sad tunes you’ll ever hear. The band’s now a full-time three-piece, with Peter Hughes and Jon Wurster (of Superchunk and Mother 13) beefing up the sound, so that even Darnielle’s older songs, which often sound like they were recorded in a cave during a windstorm, sound rich and full. Just a quick look at the band’s discography can make a casual fan’s head spin – there have been 9 studio albums since 2002! That’s overwhelming! So you never know what songs you’ll get. But you’ll almost certainly love whatever songs you get. The excellent site nyctaper recorded their three-night residency in New York City from last March – listen to those shows and fall in love.

Support is from the Portland three-piece Nurses, whose latest album ‘Dracula’ is expansive and loose and rhythm-heavy. You can probably expect to see at least one band member join the headliners onstage at some point to sing along.